Connecting wth the Community and Exciting Things on the Horizon

Wow! My head is spinning. I to tell you about an amazing chain of events that took place over the last 6 months. Many of them took place in the past few weeks and will continue into 2015 and beyond.  Most took place outside Sherwood Glen, but will work to bring us and the community at large, closer together.   Here's the Reader's Digest version of what transpired.

Some of you may know that while researching the history of our conservation land, I had the help of folks from the Raymond Historical Society.  They needed a lot of help with their website, and in July I rebuilt the Raymond Historical Society website, and became the webmaster.

In August, I connected with Dave Hoelzel, another community volunteer.  He was managing the very active Raymond 250th Facebook page, which had over 1800 followers.  We agreed that once the 250th celebration was over, it would be a shame to see the activity end, so Dave worked with Facebook and arranged to turn it into the Raymond Historical Society Facebook page, which we both now manage.

In December, Dave was named Raymond's Volunteer of the Year   by This Week in Raymond.com. The historical society asked me if I would speak on their behalf, which I did. At the ceremony, I met quite a few people around town, including Kevin Wood, who runs Raymond Community Television.

You already know, I make YouTube and Animoto videos with my cell phone and little Flip Mino camera.  Dave asked if I would be interested in volunteering with the TV station, and I jumped at the chance to get my hands on professional equipment.

Less than two weeks ago, he gave me a tour of the studio housed in the high school. I was blown away by the facilities.  Though they do a tremendous amount of work taping and airing government meetings, church events, and town celebrations, but creative programming was in short supply.

Incidentally, they will be having open house on January 24th and 25th, from 11AM to 5 PM. Please come over to the high school and check it out.  You'll be impressed!

I agreed to edit about 5 hours of video shot by three volunteers during the First Annual Ring it in Raymond, our town's version of First Night.  I made three videos from the footage.  Two were of performers at the Congregational Church and the Ray-Fre Senior Center, and the third, which you can see here, was footage from other venues around town.

Kevin liked the job I did and is encouraging me gave me to produce any kind of creative programming I like.  You know me.  It doesn't take much encouragement to play with digital toys.  Hell, you  have to hold me back!

We were discussing making a documentary about beavers, which led me to watch this week's Raymond Conservation Committee meeting where by coincidence, beaver deceivers were discussed. While there where were varying opinions of how to deal with them, I was pleased to see there was no contentiousness.

The committee was unaware we were already co-existing with beavers, have done the research, and walked the walk.  I contacted the vice-chair person Lorraine O'Connor asked for the opportunity to  present to the committee and let them know about the beavers of Sherwood, how they have helped our wildlife flourish, their positive impact on the environment and the cost effectiveness of co-existing.  We both feel the committee will be open to the opportunity.

If I present to the committee, I will invite them to watch the installation of a pond leveling device that will take place here as Sherwood this spring.  That installation will become part of the Sherwood Beaver documentary. Mike Callahan, the beaver expert who will be installing the device, is helping me with information he presents at national conferences.

I've also offered to take a look at an area near the fire house that has been a problem in the past.  I know that Mike will provide advice and with our experience here at Sherwood with the culvert cage we installed and the pond leveler that will be installed, we can build the necessary solution at a small fraction of the cost of bringing someone in to do the job.  It would be a great community project and be a win-win situation for the community, not to mention the beavers.

The snowball effect kept on building and in March I will  be working with Dave, the Historical Society, and the Library to help plan document scanning to turn their print archives into searchable digital format.

Kevin as also suggested contacting some of the more senior residents of Raymond to get some of their stories of  Raymond video while we still can, and editing them down the line. I guess that's a project for my free time.

Putting a professional camera in my hand and turning me loose could result in some serious insanity and I'm looking for others to join me in my trek. As I alluded to in today's email and the survey, I think the residents of Sherwood Glen can contribute a great deal.  We have a lot of creative, enthusiastic people here in Sherwood. I think we can have LOT of fun while connecting with the rest of the community and making a positive impact.

... and that's the Reader's Digest version.   Stay tuned for more!

Positive Raymond

On Saturday morning, the Iber Holmes Grove Middle School was buzzing with activity as about 70 residents met to discuss ways to make Raymond a better place to live, work, and learn. The event was sponsored by Positive Raymond and facilitated by New Hampshire Listens, a civic engagement group affiliated with UNH.

Since most of us here in Sherwood Glen are transplants to Raymond, I think a report of the day's activities will help us in many ways. As you will read later, strengthening neighborhoods is a suggested action. I think we here in Sherwood Glen have had that goal for quite a while and have a good start on it.

After coffee, Duncan Donuts, and opening remarks, the groundwork was set for small group discussions that were facilitated by NH Listens moderators. Each group was charged with identifying issues and topics that should be discussed. They were asked to focus on one of the topics and make recommendations for making Raymond a great place to live, work, and learn.

Our group, led by Amy and Jean, was a good mix of ages, backgrounds, and years in residence here in Raymond. I was the newbie, having moved here from NJ 2 years ago, and Paul was born here more than 70 years ago. Joe, Andy, Jen, and Susan, filled out a nice spread between those years.

There were two rounds of introductory comments. What was particularly interesting is that those of us who came from crowded urban or even suburban environments like the easy pace and friendly nature of the people. My example was that here in NH, people actually drive in the right hand lane and yield to someone coming behind them. That's RARE in NJ. Most people who get in the left lane think they own it and it doesn't matter whether they are traveling at the speed limit, 10 mph over, or 10 mph under.

It was a diverse group, but one commonality shared by all was feeling of being connected to the community and the people in it.

We were then asked to select a single work that describes Raymond. Our seven members offered Home, Friendly, Angry, Beautiful, Polarized, Evolving, and Opportunities

The discussion then naturally moved toward finding out more about the anger and polarization. Having come from an environment where anger and polarization were rampant, I was anxious to find out more about this aspect. During my two years here, watching local cable and reading the newspaper gave me a somewhat out of focus view on the problem. I was anxious to put things in clearer focus.

As the discussion progressed, a few things became clear. There were differences of opinion about economic development and conservation. There was considerable concern about strong personalities and personal attacks out weighing rational discourse and the democratic process.

I guess some of that is the result of some people wanting a bedroom community with low taxes and services, which is a bit like having your cake and eating it too. It's not something that is easy to achieve.

I said that I felt development in Raymond that would have minimal environmental impact is somewhat limited due to the lack of city sewers. It was pointed out to me that we missed that opportunity in the 70's when the Water Conservation Act made grants possible.

I think the group agreed that to help Raymond thrive economically we have to attract companies who hire a significant number of people, but would have limited environmental impact. Finding the balance between homes and businesses is the trick. Distribution centers such as Walmart foot that bill as far as a tax base goes. Finding the right location that doesn't impact neighborhoods is critical.

Interesting as that discussion was, it didn't address the problem being generated by the strong personalities and possible hidden or personal agendas. There was a strong feeling that there was a need for civility and respect in public meetings. While I agree with that, my experience is that the leopard doesn't change its spots. While you may tame it in the public area, it will revert to its nature when it is out of the spotlight. You have to cage it or remove it from the environment.

When it came time to report back to the full group, our two items were economic development vs conservation and a lack of respect and dialog. The action plan was to educate the public as to the rules, regulations, and issues surrounding the development problem and to set out standards for conducting meetings that would be spelled out at the beginning of each meeting and enforced.

On the surface, it may not look like this will deal with the leopards, but if the public is educated and the full story gets our, they are the ones who have the power to either cage them or remove them from the environment.

As other groups reported back, it became evident that we were not the only ones who wrestled with these problems, but they were expressed in different ways as well as expanded upon. Some other points mentioned were:
1)Deciding on how we want the world to view Raymond.
2)Developing better community communication.
3)Coming up with and ethical business plan
4)Building a positive community image.
5)Getting away from an Us vs Them attitude
6)Strengthening neighborhoods
7)Building more transparency into local government
8)Training for facilitators of government meetings to better handle rhetoric

After the groups reported we were informed that we would get a summary of the day’s events. Needless to say, I’ll be curious to see how that meshes with what I have written here.

All in all I think it was an enjoyable and productive morning. I met some really nice folks, had some great side conversations, and got to know the community better. I’m not sure how I would have felt after a full day of meetings, but the three hours flew by and I left as fresh as I was when I arrived. Actually after two cups of coffee, I probably left fresher than when I had arrived.

I certainly hope that what we offered will be acted upon and that that these discussions will continue. I would be happy to be a part of them.

Ray Free Senior Center

Last winter, shortly after moving to Raymond, NH, Jill and I had breakfast at the Long Branch Restaurant. Across the street was the Ray Free Senior Center. We decided to stop in and see what was happening. What we found was a VERY active group of "youngsters" from their 50's on up to through their 90's.

They club sponsored trips, held Tai Chi lessons, and line dancing lessons. There was a walking group, exercise group, cribbage, bingo, knitting, crocheting, quilting and more! As we talked, we mentioned that we had just come from the Long Branch, and John, the club president said, "Oh, if you are a member here, you get a 10% discount."

When we asked what the cost of membership was, he told us it was $10. I said, "Considering Jill and I want to join the walking group, I want to take Tai Chi, and we'll probably save $10 a month just on breakfasts, sign us up."

Imagine our surprise when we found out that it as $10 a YEAR! You just don't get bargains like that any more.

When we stopped in today for our walking group, there was a group of women busily crocheting red, white, and blue stockings. When I asked what they were for, I was told they are for the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. The stockings would be stuffed with toiletries and other essentials and send over seas to the troops.

I'll let Yvonne, the project organizer tell you about it in the short video. After watching it, why not come on down to 64 Main Street, sign up, and take advantage of activities and the friendly folks. If it doesn't make you feel 10 years younger, it will at least get you 10% off your breakfast!